Sunday, January 23, 2011

frosted flakes

It's cold in New York so what better flick to watch and write about for Stacie Ponder'sFinal Girl Film Club? O Frozen. I'll try to avoid "cold" puns throughout this review... but it's so tempting. Frozen is pretty thin ice. Three dimwitted friends decide to get one last ski run in before closing time and end up stuck on the lift. They panic a little and conversation ensues about "the worst way to die" including an awkward reference to September 11th. Soon enough, just when you would say to yourself "I would just jump off that piece," Kevin Zegers decides to jump, but unfortunately, feet first. Wolves come out of the woods. And that's about an hour in, with 30 odd minutes to go. So we have to watch Emma Bell weep about her little dog, pry her icy grip from a metal bar, pee her snow pants, and ask her comrade (Shawn Ashmore) why he doesn't have a girlfriend. The remaining time consists of more climbing across creaky cables, landscape shots, heavy breathing, growling wolves, and a lackluster conclusion. Shrewdly marketed as horror (and featuring a small cameo by Kane Hodder), Frozen is less (much less) Jaws on the slopes, more ultra lite 127 Hours. I guess the filmmakers deserve credit for attempting to make a good-looking thriller on such a tiny scale. *

Adam Green rolled out a good idea here, then couldn't execute enough to get it across the goal line. Things started getting away from him fairly early, but when the wolves popped out nowhere at just the right time, that's when things really came off the tracks. It wasn't a horrible movie or anything, but it's nothing I would revisit.

I think Frozen delivered what a movie of this type should have. To sum up what I felt this movie was about I made a 3d short animation. You can watch the remake here: http://bit.ly/zZsxlO. Hope you enjoy it.